3-D Printed Exoskeleton Gives 2 yr old Ability to Move Her Arms

Two-year-old Emma wanted to play with blocks, but a condition called arthrogryposis meant she couldn't move her arms. So researchers at a Delaware
hospital 3D printed a durable custom exoskeleton with the tiny, lightweight parts she needed.

Just saw this today. Its nice to see this technology being used for something worthwhile.

I got a little teary eyed. Damn, we've come far. When it comes to science, we done good. But a quick question since I don't have much time, will
her bones grow differently with the suit on? If so, will they become normal?

It took humans to make this but it will undoubtedly also be used to do harm as all technology seems to go that way. For example...This same technology
has already been used to make a gun.

I have more faith in technology than humans. And I am not even a big technology proponent.

Peace

It took humans to design the technology. Not all humans are bad just the greedy ones.

Really? Humans designed the technology? Nice to know. In fact I said the exact thing in my post that you quoted.

The 3d printer wasn't designed to be in the medical field first and foremost. That's just a bi-product. Same as it wasn't designed to build a
gun...another off shoot.

So to have faith in anything, it would be the printer itself.

If it was specifically designed to help kids throw a baseball again or even to walk, I would have faith in humanity a little more but this was
designed for profits.

I could however concede a little and have faith in ONE human. The person who thought up the use to help this kid. Having said that tho, seeing as it's
successful, how much will the next kid be charged?

If I see a story of hundreds or thousands of people being helped in this way and that it's an affordable technique that almost anyone can afford, I'll
concede a little more.

3D printing machines are so awesome. This would not have been possible in the old days of manufacturing. Now that we have the ability to own small
private 3D printing machines we can print out custom designed parts at a moments notice and it costs us hardly anything. The science that allows this
to happen is brilliant but the monopolistic industrialists fear this sort of technology because it puts so much power into the hands of the common
consumer and allows them to do things which used to be done by massive manufacturing plants and machines that costs millions of dollars. Eventually
all of us will have the ability to build so many things from 3D printed parts and many manufacturing companies will become obsolete.

But really I can't wait until we enter into the bio-mech age where we start to create truly advanced bio-mechanical replacement limbs for people like
this little girl.

You have to love this and 3D printing will be a forerunner to nanotechnology. This technology is amazing. As it gets more advanced we will be able to
print even more body parts and medical devices. This technology will also challenge commerce in a major way.

Imagine going on vacation, seeing something you like and instead of buying it, you take a picture of it on your cell phone and take it home and 3D
print it out.

What if they print a body down to the molecular level? The next question will be, how can you animate the body. I think 3D printing is a technology
that will quickly change the world. The powers that be will be up in arms when people can just print a watch they like from a magazine ad.

3D printing could turn out to be one of the greatest advances to the medical field in years once it gets more advanced.

This is just the sort of thing 3D printing should be used for, why focus on the negative aspects of a design technology?

Not focusing on it just seeing it for what it is I guess.

What it should be used for and what it will be used for are two different things and unfortunately my faith in humanity has diminished greatly over
the last few years.

I have faith in Nature as it will always survive. I have a certain 'trust' in technology in that it will do what it is designed to do. To have faith
in the hands that control the button? Can't do it.

Too many things invented for the betterment of humanity have been used to destroy it. It's just the history of humans.

Not taking away from a great use for this tech but soon it will be used for harm as well. And then the little girl will be the lucky one in that only
the very rich and elite will have access to it. It always happens.

Wow Jude did you get out of the wrong side of bed today? Thats a very touching video but you are only seeing negative things.

Its just technology, yes it can be used for bad as well as good but so can ANY tool that has ever been invented in the history of mankind and guess
what? we have made it this far in spite of that.

To my mind 3D printing technology could be the one development that really lifts mankind out of the material based world that we live in today.
Eventually we are going to have machines that can make whatever we want. Ill bet that when that happens we will find that we dont want a hell of a lot
, just the comforts in life and some of the latest tech.

I have faith in humanity and look forward to a better future. Its either that or just give up now ..and i cant do that because im not a quitter

What a beautiful and meaningful meeting of technology and the human spirit... We can be a pretty amazing species when we put our hearts to it..Emma is
a a very lucky little girl with a beautiful smile..peace,sugarcookie1

I see where hes coming from. Hes being realistic, knowing humanitys method of using technology in the past, and assuming that that method of use will
remain consistent in the future. Its only logical to assume such.

To your comment that 3d printing will make shift focus away from materialism... yeah, just like the computer shortened the work week to 3 days, just
like we got to Mars by the year 2000, just like cancer got cured and most diseases were eradicated too, Im sure the 3D printer will live up to the
idealism just as well.

We all know technological progress can be a double edged sword. But this simply amazing new tech has given the girl a quality of life she could
never have experienced without it. Why not just recognise that?.......... Great post OP

The best thing about this is that the technique will be improved on and refined as the child grows up with it. Hopefully, by the time she is a
teenager, she will likely have near fully functioning arms and an exoskeleton that is so light and thin as to be rendered almost invisible. That is an
amazing prospect, not just for this child, but for millions like her.

There has been several 3-D printer threads of late, and I'm beginning to do more research on it.

Like, a 3-D Printer can replicate it's own parts, or reproduce itself. It's also open source, so you are putting the creativity of the whole world
into the design process. Who knows what they'll think of next?

That was wonderful. People and technology working as a unit to make human life better.

I went by the local National Guard camp today, Camp Mabry in Austin, and noticed they had added another thrownout weapon of war to their display of
out-dated weapons. It as a jet fighter on a pedestal. I don't know if it helped win a war somewhere or not, probably not, it probably would be
said, however, that it did its job by keeping America safe as would be the purpose for a junkyard dog.

Suppose the one or two million dollars that single aircraft cost and the millions more than kept it operational during its life span had been put into
more positive aspects of American life such as education, schools, health quality art and more efficient government? Would we be in decline today
still?

Why is it that most all of the countries that we defeated in World War II have fared better than us? The answer seems clear. We spent and continue
to spend gigantic sums of money on defense and they spent it on proper things for their people and society and leave the policing of the world to us.

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